Identity and social movements. The case of the 1968 mexican student movement

Abstract

In this work I expose the relationship between social movements and the identities of groups and subjects. To the question, what moves with social movements? My answer is: groups and identities in dispute over power resources. My hypothesis is that support or not for social movements, whatever they are, implies an identification with them, more specifically with the ideals that guide the movement. The social movements, then, have to do with groups and their particular group ideals: there are directing ideas, demands that bring together the subjects in mass and, from that, the social movement moves on stage. The subjects support the movement or not depending on whether they identify with these ideals or guiding demands. The essay, then, will deal with the relationship between identities and social movements, taking the particular case of the Mexican student movement of 1968. For this I will use the concept of established and marginalized figuration of Norbert Elias and interviews with teachers of 1968.